"Lorenzen stood very still. He had never seen a man die before. There was no dignity in it. Fernandez lay grotesquely sprawled, his face mottled bluish, a little drool still coming from his mouth. The wind slipped between the crowding men and ruffled his hair. Death was an unclean sight." (pp. 76-77)
This scene should be filmed exactly as described. Without Lorenzen having to say it, a cinema or TV audience should get the message that death is undignified and unclean. The wind has no respect for a dead body and, of course, I have quoted this paragraph mainly because it is yet another example in a work by Anderson of the wind commenting on a human event, in this case the ultimate event. What more is there to say? In death as in life, the wind, that unstoppable force of impersonal nature, blows between Poul Anderson's universes. We will read on and will certainly meet it again.
3 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
I think there can sometimes be dignity for a dying person if he has the opportunity to end his life with courage, resolution, and even faith.
Ad astra! Sean
Violent death is usually... shall we say aesthetically highly displeasing. Though it can be sudden, which is good.
Some others less so. My father died in his sleep after a brief illness, and so did my mother and my wife.
It's the luck of the draw.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
I agree.
Ad astra! Sean
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